Nuccio D'Angelo received his earliest
musical training at the tender age of six from a musician uncle, who
initiated him into an especially joyous relationship with music and the guitar
that would be open to all forms of experimentation. In fact, in addition to his classical music studies,
between his fourteenth and nineteenth birthday he also dedicated himself to
improvisation in popular music and jazz, among other genres. At the end of his boyhood years he
became fascinated with composition and has continued to practice it ever
since.

Crucial in his career were his studies between 1976 and
1983 at the Conservatory of Florence, where he still resides.His compositional language took shape
in Florence, where he studied with Gaetano Giani-Luporini, at the same time
that he perfected his guitar performance and interpretation skills under the
guidance of Alvaro Company.In 1984 he
graduated magna cum laude in guitar and wrote
one of his most striking works, the Due canzoni lidie.In the past years
this piece has been recorded several times and was been featured in the
finals of the 1988 Radio France Guitar Competition as well as listed in the
repertoire of the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris.It continues to be played all over
the world and to be presented in many guitar competitions.

In Nuccio D'
Angelo's career, the compositional and interpretive experience are
complementary and interconnected.In his concerts he alternates his own compositions with pieces taken
from the Spanish and South American repertoires.Thanks to the youthful experiences that have led him to
appreciate and practice many musical genres, from time to time he revisits
and reworks pieces in various genres (popular music, jazz), or scrutinizes
non-Western forms of making music.Some examples include his Suite barocca
(1991) based on themes by Sanz, Corbetta, and Murcia for orchestra of guitars
and percussion premiered in 1991 by the Guitar Symphonietta conducted by Leo
Brouwer; a Raga for prepared piano (imitating
the sounds of a sitar); a jazzy Ballad for
piano (which may be performed as written or, if preferred, with
improvisations on the given material); two Quintets (1993 and 1994) dedicated
and inspired by the style of Astor Piazzolla; and a reworking of Piazzolla's Caf
1930.

Always along
the line of exploring stylistic mixtures, for his CD Homages he invited jazz performers such as double bass players Lello
Pareti and Pippo Pedol, the percussionist Alessio Riccio, and the pianist
Peppe Porcelli.The latter has
requested Mr. D¹Angelo¹s collaboration in his CDs Isola and Rilevamenti da un sestante.

The
Electric Suitea tribute to the electric
guitar but intended for an acoustic instrumentis a result of these
experiences and musical outlook.This piece explores and evokes various effects and harmonies inspired
by the electric guitar and the many genres in which it is used.

Nuccio
D¹Angelo often endows his pieces with characteristic melodic cells and
special harmonic colors.It is
possible to understand such features as non-strict structural elements,
allowing for free invention and providing recognizable features to related
pieces.Modern formal elements
and traditional parameters such as rhythm, harmony, and melody coexist and
interact in his compositions.

Internally his
pieces alternate diverse stylistic and instrumental elements, used according
to the emotional states to be conveyed, where inspiration, taste, and
atmosphere substantially occupy the main role and are not controlled by the
chosen structures.

Over his
professional career Nuccio D¹Angelo has been a guest of festivals presented
by numerous concert associations in Italy, and he has performed both as a
soloist and chamber ensemble player in Canada, France, Germany, Greece,
Portugal, Switzerland, and the United States.

His works,
appreciated by many great musicians such as Leo Brouwer, Reginald Smith
Brindle, and Terry Riley, have been published by Éditions Max Eschig, Ricordi,
and Lemoine, and frequently appear in recitals by well-known guitarists.

He has won
first prizes in composition at the ³Festival of Contemporary Music² promoted
by the Onyukai Association (Tokyo, 1984) with Due canzoni lidie, and the Andrés Segovia competition in Spain (Almuñécar, 1991)
with Magie.He has also received special prizes at ³The European
International Competition for Composers² sponsored by the Ibla Foundation
(New York, 1996) and ³La Chitarra d¹oro per la composizione² (Alessandria, 1997).

He teaches guitar at the Mascagni
Musical Institut in Livorno, and has led courses in guitar and composition in
Canada, Germany (Hamburg), Italy (many cities), Monaco (Marktoberdorf),
Spain, and the United States. His music has been appreciated by many
important musicians such as L. Brouwer, T. Riley, R. Smith-Brindle, A. Pierri
and played and recorded by famous guitarists: "Due Canzoni Lidie"
was recorded many times in the last years and played by many guitarists in
concert and in guitar competions.

N. D. held in
2005 the guitar chair and in 2006 a compositon course at the Indiana
University of Bloomington (Indiana ­ U.S.A.).

5, 4,
2: after the corona the numbers are inverted (1, 4, 1, 4 is the corrected
fingering);

5, 6,
1: I suggest to play A on the 5ft string to have a little more
resonance;

5, 6,
2: E is natural.

"Agitato"

6, 1,
1: after the dashed bar line: the C following the 2nd Db is natural;

6, 3,
1: the last A before the dashed bar line is natural;

6, 4,
1: the 2nd E on bass is flat;

6, 5,
1: the 2nd A on bass is an eighth;

6, 5,
1: remove the dashed line between the numbers 3;

6, 6,
1: add an up steam to the 1st C and joint it with the following F
(both 32nd);

6, 6,
1: after the corona, the 2nd G and the 2nd F # must be
both semiquaver;

6, 6,
2: in the last group the number 2 can be changed in 1;

6, 7,
1: the 2nd C of the line (with double steam) is a semiquaver with
point in the lower voice;

6, 8,
1: at the end of the bar from the E to A is a "quintina";

6, 8,
4: the last note of the 3 rd frameis a D;

7, 1,
2: all the notes with down steam are to be dotted;

7, 2,
1: add a dot to the 1st and 2nd bass Eb;

7, 2,
3: add a dot to the Eb bass;

7, 3:
add a dot in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd basses (E,
Eb, Eb);

7, 3:
the 1st A with up steam is a eight;

7, 4:
the last high G of the line is natural;

7, 5,
2: the last A (before the dashed bar line) is natural;

7, 6:
after the bar with dashed bar line the value of the G and the A on the bass is
of 32 nd.

Somecomposer's comments about

"Due
Canzoni Lidie"

Presentation

(1984)

In a imaginary
place where memories of ancient ³melos² and archaic modal forms reside,³Due Canzoni Lidie² is about an
enchanted traveller who descovers the charmfascination of a primeval forgotten world.

The
sonorous spaces encountered during this revisitation are enlightened and
embellished by a strictrespect for the ancient modality, rediscovered beyond
any intellettual vision without diminishing its expressiveness.

Recurring
in its original melodic form, the Lydian mode here becomes vivid with the magic
of its resonance and, thanks to a wide use of harmonic and melodic sounds
produced in various strings, generate precise polyphonic elements full of
ambiguity and armonical polyvalencies.

From
a purely technical point of view, ³Tranquillo² is a free ³Divertimento² made up
several recurring thematic phrases, in a contest where the primary compulsory
structural pillars are made of the Lydian gregorian modality and of the almost
ever present 7/8 rhythm.

³Agitato²
is a ³Fantasia² characterized and generate by a melodic-transportable cell
(Eb-D-B) where the primary Lydian scale is enriched by chromaticism.

A panoramic description

(1991)

It¹s
a brief intense voyage in the old world of the modalism (³Lidia²is the name of one of the
modal-gregorian scales) that here is rediscovered and showed by a visual
thatpraises highly the great
expressive potential and its harmonic ambiguity.

In
this ³celebration² guitar is a formidable colour palette by virtue of its
innumerable timbre and its varied resonances and harmonic sounds.

In
specific, ³Tranquillo² use some melodical recurrent phrases and a rhythm of
7/8; ³Agitato² is instead characterized and structured by the continual use of
a three notes cell (transposed and interpolated) and by the use of
chromaticism, from which a moretroubling atmosphere derived.

A short analysis

(2000)

The
Lydian mode is on the tendency to remark some notes and the strength of them
intervals: A/Eb (namely A with Eb on the bass) or D/Ebthat well characterize the lydian scale
of Eb. You can see the modality isn¹ t rigorous and in the develop (frompage 3) we can meet many extraneous
notes respect the basic scale.

Infact,
the original harmonic exploration I made when I wrote the piece was based on
the continue overlapping of G-Bb (begin of page 2) respect some basses, to
produce particolary harmonic effects. For exempleG-Bb/Eb is a chord of Eb, G-Bb/A seem an A with b9, G-Bb/E
is a E minor b5, or G-Bb/G sometimes I used with F# high to give the effect of
G minor-major 7. So the idea of Lydian mode arrived in a second moment. When I
observed that the Eb scale was a continue tendency of the itinerary of my
phrases ( as the natural resolution and a relaxation of the harmonic tensions)
I gave the title ³Lidie²to the
piece , also with a poetical sense ( and not own structural ).

In
this piece I began my compositive experience based on some
³harmonic cycles² system (in the 1st song) and with the use of a melodical
cell (in the 2nd song). The ³harmonic cycles² system consist in creating a
sequence of chords (whit scales connected to them) that in a underground way
genetate the elements of the piece. In some other succesive pieces of mine I
used the ³harmonic cycles² system continuously, but in ³D.C.L.² we can
only speak of some ³harmonic fields² usedabove all in the 1sts 2 pages and in them tranformated repetition on
page 5.

These
harmonic fields consist in 3 groups of notes that I put in sequence and giving
3 different harmonic colours. The 1st is based on the notes of the Eb scale;
the 2nd consist in the entry of F#, the create an athmosfere about of G
minor-major 7 (but also Eb minor and major together), and the 3rd field is
created by the introduction ofE
natural.

At the
begin of the 3rd page you can observe a mix of the 3 harmonic fields and the
use ofsome chromatic movement on
the basses.

About
the 2nd movement, the presence of the downwards cell is evident in many points
and hidden in other. It consist in a half-tone followed by a minor 3rd. I made
a large use of this element: it¹ s used also as inversion, retrograde and in
vertical position. It turn upclearly - as 1st time - at the end of the 1st line in the both up steam
notes.

ALL THE MISTAKES OF
THE PUBLISHED SCORE OF "MAGIE"

The numbers refer to the page and line.

"Divertimento"

2, 4:
before the short corona the number 3 is to remove;

3, 1,
2nd group: the fingering 1, 2 is to reverse;

5, 2:
the last note of the 1st group is a D sharp and not a C sharp.

"Sospeso"

7, 3:
in the grace notes, the natural sign in bracket is relate to the D and not to
the A;

8, 1:
add ³More rhythmical and concrete² after the double-dashed bar;

8, 3:
the 1st high note (B) is a quarter tied with another B semiquaver. A
dotted rest follow.

Una synthetic description

(1992)

In ³Magie² the main theme-material is
shown whole in the second movement (³Sospeso²) and given earlier by some
fragments of its in ³Divertimento². We can find also two episodes besides this
material (everytime existing - enough hidden): one in the meedle of the 1st
movement and one about at the end of ³Sospeso². In this point the main theme is
developed until the end of the composition, with pattern used in³Divertimento².

Somecomposer's analytic informations about

"MAGIE"

(2004)

My
way to develop the composition - in this and some other pieces too - consist in
various manipulation of some thematic cells.

In
this case the main thematic material reside in the 3 groups of
"Sospeso" on page 6 beginning from F# (with corona) until G#. I'll
call these groups A, B, C. The piece is mostly origined from these notes I
believed very good as melodic design and harmonic colour and by which I found
inspiration for all the piece. So it¹s not difficult to find the very numerous
places in the composition where these notes are used and how are transformed,
hidden, transfigured. We find A, B, C also imediately at the begin of"Sospeso" with an less rich
armony.

Some
other thematical and rhythmical textures there are too, alternating or mixing
to the main abovementioned elements.

At
the begin, the 1st page has the function to create an atmosphere
a bit "sospesa", but gradually it became more rhythmic coming to
"Deciso". In this introduction some preferred intervals are
introduced too: minor 2nd, 5th augmented and diminished.

In
the 1st group we find immediately two important and very used rhythmical cells
and the melodic group at the begin of the 4th line is an element not derived
from the A, B, C elements of "Sospeso", but is a melodic cell of
secondary importance you'll find in various moments of the piece (I'll call
this D).

When
"Deciso" arrive the rhythmical cell is new and the D cell is at the
end of the line, with another rhythmical pattern. At the centre of the last
line the melodic part of the group is freely derived from B: the C# is added
and the next C natural is transformed respect to C # that might have been from
a rigorous transposition of the element B. The last group is a 6th above C with
a similar harmony.

On page
3 the 3rd
group is still D. It follow a homecoming of the rhythmical part with variants
(center of the 2nd line) and the F# B contained in the 3rd
line are a transfiguration of B. In "più cantato" the D cell make a
dialogue with B (transformed but recognisable in the 4th group) and
the 3rd group of the last line is still D with the last note
changed.

In page
4 there is an
new zone to create a contrast, a curiosity in the listener. Here I used the
rhythmical elements of the begin and a new theme "E" (the head of
this theme is also a variant of the 1sts notes of the piece). In the
"forte" of the 5th line we find again D and at the centre
of the 6th line another transformation of B (F#, G#, C#). The page
5 is a zone
of full development, in which also the rhythmical elements of the begin take
value above all in the 5th line (signed whit steam up). This is for
me an homage-citation (enough transfigured) of the D. Gillespie¹s jazz piece
"A night in Tunisia". In this page there is principally a develop of
the theme "E" with some insert of D. At the begin of the last line
there is a recap of the head of theme "E" to go toward the final
zone.

In "Sospeso" I used the theme in many
ways.

Here¹s
some examples: in the 4th group of the line (immediately after the 1st
exposition of A, B, C) the A material is contained in the "quintina" (G, Bb, C, D);

the
end of the 2nd group (4th line) is a transformation of C;

the 4th
group of the 5th line is C transformated (I added an E);

the
last group of the same line is the head of A;

the 1st
group of the 2nd line of page 6 is B in which the 2nd note
(D) is transferred in the middle voice;

3rd
line of page 6: A and B are contained in the two groups at the begin,
from Bb until B. Bb might have been A# in a perfect transposition.

In page
8, after the
1st corona, we are in a new zone inspired from the "E"
theme (for example the group at the begin of the 2nd line is a
contractionof the 2nd
up-steam group of "E").

At
the 5th line we meet D again (from high F#) and successively in
"tutto più ampio".

Page
9 is a
progressive crescendo toward the finale where all the elements are together.

I can
also add this page show an homage-citation of the J. Coltrane¹s jazz piece
"A love supreme". In fact the melodic profile and a the rhythmical
pattern used in the lower part are a bit like the main riff of that piece.

ALL THE MISTAKES OF
THE PUBLISHED SCORE OF "ELECTRIC SUITE"

The numbers refer to the page, line, bar
and beat.

Page III (Percussive effects with the
right hand):

eliminate
the indication ³Strike on the bridge².

3rd
indication: change ³strokes on² with ³strike²

4th
indication: change ³strokes on² with ³strike²

"Funky"

1, 4,
2, 3: the G is natural;

2, 3,
3: all the bass notes are G sharp and not F sharp;

2, 5,
1: every diad is to play with L. H. (add the crosses);

3, 3,
2, 4: the 2nd G is to play on 4th string;

3, 4,
1, 1: the A sharps to play with 1;

4, 2:
the # in C of 2nd triplet is unuseful;

"Soft"

8, 2,
1, 3: the B is natural (it¹s possible to play it with 2 or 3);

8, 3,
2nd and 3rd bar: the angle and the triangle above the bar
indicate the 2nd and 3rd movevents of the bar. In fact the writing of the value
if the notes could be intended like a 6/8. This ambiguity cannot happen in the
1sts four bars where the correct suddivision is well suggested by
the feet-percussion.

9, 1,
1, 4: add a slure between E natural and F;

9, 1,
2, 1: add a slur between B natural and C;

9, 1,
2, 3: B is to played with 3

9, 1,
2, 4: A# is to played with 3 and the following chord with 0, 1, 3. The
suggested fingering for the last diad (B-C#) is 0-2.

"Raga- - Blues"

11,
3: add a dot to the 1st C;

11,
4, 2: the bass of the 2nd group is a F#;

12,
2, 1: the 1st bass A is
a minim;

12,
2, 2: the fingering of the 2nd diad on the bass (Db-F) is to
reverse;

"Song"

13,
4, 2, 3: the bass note (A) take 2 quarters and the next A is to remove;

G, 5,
3: the 1st and 2nd group take 1 eighth for each (64thsthe 1st group and32nds the 2nd group);

F, 6,
1: at the begin of the line add ³mf²;

F, 6,
3: at the begin of the line add ³f² and a short corona on the last rest (like guitar);

G, 6,
5: add a dot on the A of the second group;

F, 9,
1: the number above the 1st note is to be a 3.

"Barcarola"

G,
3bis, 1, 2: the 1st note of the 3rd group (on the big
line) is A and not C.

"Mercato"

G, 4,
1: remove the 2nd rest (between F and B);

G, 5,
3: the last chord of the4th beat
with up steam is composed by C sharp and D natural;

G, 5,
3: add a sharp to the 1st D of the last group;

G, 5,
4, 2: add two free ties to A sharp and B bass at the end of the 1st
beat;

F, 6,
3, 1: change the double sharp in a simple sharp;

F, 6,
4, 1:put a phrase tie from G
sharp until F sharp;

F, 6,
4, 2:add a point on the last note
of the bar;

F, 7,
2, 2:add a ³p² before the G
sharp;

G, 8,
3: remove the accents;

G, 8,
3, 3: add accents on the 1st and 2nd note.

"Sera"

G, 3,
4: the group take an eight: C and 1st E are a eights and the other
notes 16 ths;

F,
14, 1: the last group of grace notes and the last F are to play one octave
above.

A short composer's description

The piece where
commissioned in 1985 by the film director Paolo Carradori for a documentary on
the lagoon of Orbetello. So the sens of the project is contained in its nature
and titles: in four movements it identifies four phases in a day spent at these
places.

The first three
movements are mainly descriptive: the gradual forming of the musical discourse
in³Alba² represent the growing
fervour of nature re-awakening and I thinked to a raga-introduction (alap) too. In ³Barcarola² I took ispirationby a kind of fishing called ³ciurma², in which the fishers
go slow on long boats, breaking sometimes the silence of the lagoon striking
the flank of boats to correct the route of the fishes. In ³Mercato² we can well
see the music representation of confusion and overlaying of situations, noise,
overlapping of sonours effects sometimes strident, primitive rhythms. ³Sera², on the other hand, is mainly an expression of the inner
sensations stirred by those places or surfacing ³emotive places² of memory.

The main germinal
and unifier rule is given to a four notes group. These notes, used like melody
or grouped like harmony, are continually present, but made almost
unrecognizable by some interpolations, fragmentation, overlapping, ³Disguises².